Storyline visualization techniques have progressed significantly to generate illustrations of complex stories automatically. However, the visual layouts of storylines are not enhanced accordingly despite the improvement in the performance and extension of its application area. Existing methods attempt to achieve several shared optimization goals, such as reducing empty space and minimizing line crossings and wiggles. However, these goals do not always produce optimal results when compared to hand-drawn storylines. We conducted a preliminary study to learn how users translate a narrative into a hand-drawn storyline and check whether the visual elements in hand-drawn illustrations can be mapped back to appropriate narrative contexts. We also compared the hand-drawn storylines with storylines generated by the state-of-the-art methods and found they have significant differences. Our findings led to a design space that summarizes 1) how artists utilize narrative elements and 2) the sequence of actions artists follow to portray expressive and attractive storylines. We developed iStoryline, an authoring tool for integrating high-level user interactions into optimization algorithms and achieving a balance between hand-drawn storylines and automatic layouts. iStoryline allows users to create novel storyline visualizations easily according to their preferences by modifying the automatically generated layouts. The effectiveness and usability of iStoryline are studied with qualitative evaluations.

Videos are well-received methods for storytellers to communicate various narratives. To further engage viewers, we introduce a novel visual medium where data visualizations are embedded into videos to present data insights. However, creating such data-driven videos requires professional video editing skills, data visualization knowledge, and even design talents. To ease the difficulty, we propose an optimization method and develop SmartShots, which facilitates the automatic integration of in-video visualizations. For its development, we first collaborated with experts from different backgrounds, including information visualization, design, and video production. Our discussions led to a design space that summarizes crucial design considerations along three dimensions: visualization, embedded layout, and rhythm. Based on that, we formulated an optimization problem that aims to address two challenges: (1) embedding visualizations while considering both contextual relevance and aesthetic principles and (2) generating videos by assembling multi-media materials. We show how SmartShots solves this optimization problem and demonstrate its usage in three cases. Finally, we report the results of semi-structured interviews with experts and amateur users on the usability of SmartShots.

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